.png)
By: Pastor Dennis Dodson
Vice President/ Treasurer
Seeds of Faith, Inc., A Non-Profit Ministry
Colossians 3:16-17
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…”
God had promised Abraham that he would have seed as many as the sand of
the sea or the stars in the sky (Genesis 22:17). Abraham and his wife Sarai were old
and she was barren, but this was not an obstacle for God. As people often do, they
get antsy. Sarai suggests they have a child through her Egyptian handmaiden
Hagar. Ishmael was born, and God reveals that he will be blessed, but he is not the
son of promise. After another long period of waiting on God, Isaac is promised and
born. Waiting seems to be one of the primary ways God works in our lives.
We are told In Galatians 4:21-31, that these two sons are an allegory. They are
an example of the two covenants, Law and Grace. Ishmael is an example of the law.
The law is about works. The Ten Commandments are not the whole law, some say
there are 613 total commandments. These rules are all about what we can do in our
flesh. Ishmael was the son of the flesh. He was Abraham and Sarai’s idea, not God's.
Our works do not please God, and none of us are able to keep the law.
Isaac was the son of the Spirit. He was a miracle child. Conceived by the
will of God. Abraham and Sarai could do nothing to bring about Isaac. They could
only trust God and wait. Isaac is a symbol of Grace.
You will approach God trying to prove yourself by your works, or you will
in faith believe in what Christ has done for you. Works bring death. The gift of
God in Christ brings eternal life (Romans 6:23). How do you plan on approaching
God?
Titus 3:5-7 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our
Saviour: That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to
the hope of eternal life.
Comments